1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a diagnostic tool for and method of monitoring an energy conversion appliance and particularly, but not exclusively, to a tool for an appliance which utilises more than one form of energy and/or medium. The diagnostic tool may, for example, be used with heating, ventilating and air conditioning appliances.
2. Description of the Related Art
Increasingly, diagnostic tools are being embedded into control systems of appliances. Not only does this allow service engineers to diagnose faults speedily, but, with the rapid increase of connectivity technology, diagnostic data can be sent via telephone or other communication channels to “back-end” systems where sophisticated diagnostic and predictive algorithms can be run using processing power greater than that which it is economic to provide in each appliance.
The advantage of a predictive diagnostic tool to the service provider is that fault repair can be accomplished in one visit to the customer's premises, while the predictive nature of the system means that preventative maintenance can be undertaken during annual service visits.
The advantages to the customer include reduced system problems and a more rapid repair of faults.
Currently these systems are mainly applied to new appliances, which means that it will be many years before the installed population of these devices reaches a level to make economic sense to the service provider.